Term of Award

Spring 2017

Degree Name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Health and Kinesiology

Committee Chair

Li Li

Committee Member 1

Brandon Harris

Committee Member 2

Barry Munkasy

Abstract

Research has been conducted on the effect of diaper perturbation versus unclothed on gait, but there is little research on different diaper perturbations on gait. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine how physical perturbations (dry and wet diaper and underwear) affected 13 to 19 month old infant’s gait. METHODS: Sixty infants (13-19 month old) were recruited for the study. Five trials for 3 conditions (dry and wet diaper and underwear) were conducted on a GaitRite walkway. Step length (m/step), cadence (steps/s), support base (m) and stance time (sec) were analyzed. A mixed model with repeated measures along with Tukey post hoc test and the Cohen d was used to examine the effect size. RESULTS: For stance time, there was a significant difference between the 13 month old infants with underwear (0.3874±0.0109) and 19 month old infants in wet diaper (0.2761±0.0102). For step length, significant main effect was found for age between 13 month old infants (23.511±.26) and 19 month old infants (31.849±.2432). For support base, significant main effect was found for age between 13 months (12.508±.1732) and 19 months (9.682±.1621) and conditions within the underwear (9.991±.1554) dry diaper (10.618±.1554), and wet diaper (11.245±.1554). For cadence, significant main effect was found for age between 13 months (194.2±3.4988) and 19 months (299.1±3.2728) and conditions within the dry diaper (217.29±2.4255) and underwear (208.08±2.4255). CONCLUSION: It is important to understand the affects perturbation has on infant gait to better equip the infant with diapers that do not affect their natural balance.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

Yes

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